Long Term RV Battery Storage Process

[Jim 5]

With all this talk of batteries and chargers showing up, I have one question of my own.

I have a marine deep cycle/starting battery from Costco that I have been storing for some time. It has not been used on our RV since August 2009.

I have it on a Schumacher 1.2A automatic float charger/maintainer and it has been connected to that for 15 months now. The LED on the charger indicates fully charged/float. 4 months ago I opened the caps and added a very small amount of distilled water to each cell to ensure the level was perfect.

The battery is stored in my heated garage.

Is there anything else I can/should do to keep this battery in good condition?

 

[oilboy123]

I would say you are doing all that's humanly possible.

 

[wrcsixeight]

It is said that a motionless battery sitting on a float charger will have electrolyte which gets stratified, and every so often it is a good Idea to bring the voltage upto 14.4 or so to the offgassing mixes and stirs the electrolyte.

Also, correct float voltage is dependent on temperature, so if the foat charger is not temperature compensated, 13.6 volts Might be too low if the battery is sitting on the floor of a cold garage.

 

[Jim 5]

Originally Posted By: wrcsixeight
It is said that a motionless battery sitting on a float charger will have electrolyte which gets stratified, and every so often it is a good Idea to bring the voltage upto 14.4 or so to the offgassing mixes and stirs the electrolyte.

Also, correct float voltage is dependent on temperature, so if the foat charger is not temperature compensated, 13.6 volts Might be too low if the battery is sitting on the floor of a cold garage.


I had never heard that, but this is exactly the type of feedback that's helpful.

I'll put it on my 20 amp charger until it hits 14.4. I'll try to do this every 4 months or so.

 

[meep]

I've had batteries last a long time just sitting on a $20 automatic trickle charger. You could even just turn it on one night per week and be ok.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Originally Posted By: Jim 5

I'll try to do this every 4 months or so.


I correspond with a battery engineer who claims monthly is best. Some RV converters/chargers have this feature built in. They will hold 13.6 float volts, but daily or monthly bring the battery to 14.4 for 20 minutes or so.

 

[Jim 5]

Originally Posted By: wrcsixeight
Originally Posted By: Jim 5

I'll try to do this every 4 months or so.


I correspond with a battery engineer who claims monthly is best. Some RV converters/chargers have this feature built in. They will hold 13.6 float volts, but daily or monthly bring the battery to 14.4 for 20 minutes or so.



Thanks. I'll do it monthly then!